


Poison Kylo

by DottieSnark



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Driven insane by superpowers, Ecoterrorist!Kylo, Established Relationship, F/M, Kylo Ren as Poison Ivy, Lovers To Enemies, Not COVID related, One Shot, Origin Story, Poisoning, Superhero!Rey, Supervillain!Kylo, Temporary Character Death, biological weapon, contagious disease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25119094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DottieSnark/pseuds/DottieSnark
Summary: Things between Rey and her boyfriend, Ben, were pretty great. Normal. That is until a deadly toxin is released into the city, changing everything. Changing them.A Superhero AU.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 11
Kudos: 38
Collections: A Rey by Any Other Name





	Poison Kylo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HarpiaHarpyja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarpiaHarpyja/gifts).



> This story was written for The Reylo Writing Den's A Rey by Any Name moodboard and ficlet event. Participants created their own moodboard and writers signed up for any moodboard to write a ficlet about. 
> 
> This moodboard was created by HarpiaHarpyja. When I saw the moodboard I got total Poison Ivy vibes so I hope you like it. 

"Ben," Rey said as she entered her apartment. The front door had been left open but all the lights were off. In the shadows of the apartment, she could barely make out Ben lying on the bed toward the back of their studio apartment.

"You forget about something again?" Rey asked as she flicked the lights on and slammed the door shut. Ben had been making a lot of little mistakes lately, all small things but they were adding up. His brain was too overtaxed, stressed from his new job at First Order Science.

The figure on the bed jumped off and hid behind it. Rey's heart skipped a beat. Ben had no reason to hide from her. There was a stranger in the apartment.

Looking for a weapon to defend herself with, Rey picked up the broom by the door, raising it in the air, ready to strike. "I have a black belt and I'm not afraid to defend myself."

There was a long pause before: "Go away." Ben's voice.

Letting out her held breath, Rey dropped the broom. "Oh my God, you scared me half to death." She crossed the apartment and reached the side of the bed where Ben hid, his face buried in his knees.

"Don't look at me."

When Rey walked toward him he scuffled away until his back was pressed against the wall. She knelt down in front of him and reached out for his face, lifting it. It was deathly pale and drenched in perspiration.

"I said don't look at me."

Hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. Rey brushed it away from his eyes, and when her fingers touched his skin she noticed how cold he was. It was mid-summer, their A/C was broken, he was dressed in a leather jacket and he felt _cold_. She took out her phone. "I'm calling an ambulance."

"There's no cure for this." Ben slumped down against the wall.

Rey lowered her phone. "Ben…what is this?"

"You shouldn't be near me. It's contagious."

Oh God. He knew what this was. He knew and he had let her come this close. No, he had warned her away but she hadn't listened.

"What is this?" she repeated.

He breathed in and out, his wheezing getting louder with each breath. "It's a toxin…biotoxin."

Overcome with a sense of vertigo, Rey lost her balance and fell on her butt. Rey never knew what Ben did at First Order Science, but he was a botanist so she always assumed it was some sort of agricultural research. Had he actually been working on some sort of biological weapon? Would he do such a thing? She looked at her boyfriend, the love of her life, the man she wanted to marry one day, and she saw someone she didn't recognize.

"How could you?"

"If I wasn't involved in this project someone else—someone worse than me—would have been. At least with me involved I could make sure the right precautions were made."

"You don't get to decide that!" Rey said. She stood up, her knees shaky. "Once something like that is created it's just a matter a time before every world government tries to get their hands on it."

"You don't even know what it does," Ben said, but his usual fighting spirit was lacking

"Then what, Ben? What does it do?"

He breathed in and out, still wheezing, before he found the composure to continue. "It changes DNA on the molecular level. Rey, there are practical applications for this, I swear. It can be used for good. If we can control it, think of how we can save lives. It could cure cancer."

Rey tried to swallow but her throat was too dry. "What's it do now?"

He took another long moment to answer. His breaths were becoming more ragged as the minutes ticked by. "It's too unpredictable. It changes the function of cells, giving them new functions. This could cause enhanced abilities in humans…but it's more likely to cause cell death."

His words felt like a punch to the gut. Is that what was happening to Ben? Was he dying? "So what, you got exposed to the toxin? Why would they just let you leave work? Shouldn't you be in some sort of decontamination chamber?" With each word, her voice got higher and higher pitched.

He shook his head. "They were shutting down the project. Government was pulling our funding. Didn't see potential in it. Snoke, my boss, wasn't happy with that. He snuck the virus out and…"

"And what?"

Ben slumped down a little more. For a moment it looked like he passed out but then he continued. "He asked to meet to discuss my future with the company. We made dinner plans. Instead of bringing a normal host gift, like wine, he brought me a vial of the toxin. He's doing his own human trials.

Her whole body felt numb. This wasn't an accident. It was intentional. Ben's own boss had used him as a lab-rat. "Ben, I need to call 9-1-1. If there is a biological weapon loose—if other people have been exposed…"

He gave a slight nod. She dialed.

* * *

The CDC came. They quarantined Ben and Rey, separating them. Days passed without Rey suffering from a single ill effect. If anything, she felt stronger than ever. Despite this, they held her for weeks as she underwent more tests. She was only released after they determined she wasn't contagious. She never did get the chance to see Ben, or his body, again. She was still in isolation during the funeral. She heard it was a closed casket.

While she was locked away the contagion spread. Snoke had infected the entire research team, and then random strangers. Then he disappeared. The toxin ravaged the city, killing thousands. They were the lucky ones. Most who survived were changed on a molecular level, some developing terrible cancers, others driven insane by new inhuman abilities. Your comic books lied to you. Telepathy and heat vision are no fun.

Rey learned to forgive Ben for his part in the creation of the toxin. This was never what he wanted. And if he had survived he would have dedicated his life to finding a cure. Instead, Rey took it upon herself to avenge his death.

With the advent of superpowers, the city descended into chaos. Donning a mask and a bo staff Rey went out every night, protecting her city from those who would see it destroyed and hunting down Snoke.

They called her Saber.

Someone beat her to Snoke, though. When they found his body it was ripped in half.

* * *

ONE YEAR LATER

Tied up in a bundle of vines hanging over a man-eating Venus flytrap was not Rey's definition of a fun Friday night. Ben would have made some joke about a safe word. He was always so good at snark. He would have been perfect at the banter part of superheroing.

The group that captured Rey were called the Knights of Ren. Ren, the Japanese word for lotus, was the namesake of a crazed supervillain with a cult following who had been a thorn in the side of the city ever since the rise of superpowers. She disappeared a few months back, around the time Snoke was murdered, and in the power vacuum another rose, styling himself Kylo Ren. He was a much more effective leader, branding his organization as eco-terrorists rather than supervillains. Rumors said Kylo had power over plant life itself. Clearly, the rumors were true.

Most of the Knights of Ren barely wore clothing, instead choosing to adorn themselves with plant life. One with nature and all that. But not Kylo Ren. Dressed head to toe in all black he concealed his true identity with a mask. It did little to hide what he was, though. Surely a monster laid beneath.

Kylo sat upon a throne in the middle of the greenhouse that the Knights were using as a base. His scantily clad followers guarded him. The pomp and circumstance of his throne was absolutely ridiculous. With a flick of his wrist, he beckoned the vine Rey was tangled in, moving her toward him until her masked face was inches away from his. Rey tried to not let the fear show on her face.

With another gesture a different vine picked up Rey's staff from the floor, and brought it forth, only letting go once it was in Kylo's hand. He twirled it through his hand before swinging it toward Rey's head, stopping when it was mere inches from her face.

"This is a bo staff," Kylo said. "Why do they call you Saber?"

"You know your weapons," Rey said. Once upon a time, when she first started fighting crime, she had used Ben's old fencing sword from his college fencing days. It was nice to have something of his with her as she fought, but it just didn't fit her fighting style. She switched to the bo staff, but the name had already stuck. "I didn't choose the name. The media did."

"Sensationalist bullshitters." The voice modulator in Kylo's mask did nothing to hide his anger. "You're a curiosity, though. Saber, the Avenging Light, they call you. Tell me, Saber, who are you avenging?"

He dropped the bo staff and reached for her mask.

"Don't touch me, you monster!" she yelled and squirmed against the vines, but couldn't cut herself loose. He pulled off her mask. The greenhouse gases felt heavy on her face.

Kylo's knees buckled and the vines around her legs loosened. Suddenly, she was dropped to the floor. She only had a moment to tuck her legs into a somersault for a landing. Whatever had happened Rey wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by. She grabbed her staff and in one fluid motion swung it at Kylo's face. Unlike him, she didn't stop the swing at the last second.

It hit him with all her force, knocking him to the ground and the mask from his face. Rey repositioned the staff, ready for a response. The Knights of Ren fled while Kylo stayed trembling on the ground. He slowly raised his head and their eyes locked. She knew his face.

"Ben?"

"Don't look at me," he screamed.

Ben. Her Ben. Alive. How?

She knelt down in front of him and reached for his face. He flinched, but on her second try he let her touch him. Blood dripped down his cheek. She had hit him harder than she thought. She brushed the hair from his eyes. There was a gash on his forehead.

"I thought you were dead," she said.

"I was…or I thought I was. I woke up in a casket. The roots in the Earth freed me."

"Why not come to me?" she asked.

"I'm a monster."

She could see why he thought that. His skin was pale, and he had a greenish hue to him. He wasn't all human anymore. But that didn't mean he was evil. The Ben she loved still had to be in there, somewhere.

"Let me help you," she said. "Maybe they can find a cure."

"A cure?" He laughed in her face. "There's nothing wrong with me. I never felt so alive—so connected—until this happened. I am one with the planet." He brushed his fingers against her cheek. "You'll see. One day you'll join me."

Roots rose out of the ground, splitting the Earth between them. The glass roof shattered. Rey braced herself for cover, and by the time she looked back up Kylo Ren was gone.

Ben was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you liked this story as much as I loved writing it. To be honest, writing this was a bit of a struggle. At first, I bit off a little more than I can chew with the massiveness of this ficlet and world-building, but I think I was finally able to whittle it down to a story small enough to fit into 2000 words. I also got a bad injury a few days ago, so that has slowed down my editing. 
> 
> I would really like to thank dyadinbloom for betaing this fic! <3
> 
> To be honest, I love this idea so much that I'm definitely debating revisiting it in the future. Probably not with a second chapter, but instead as a totally new story inspired by my ideas from this story. I would love to write so much more about Rey's origin in becoming Saber and about what happens next with her and Kylo/Ben. Of course, I already have way too many projecting I'm working about, but what's one more? Lol. Thanks for reading!


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